Pitkin airport official retires McCain's voice

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 7, 2008 at 9:30 p.m.

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The voice of John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, will no longer be heard at Pitkin County Airport after a resident complained.

"I pulled it off yesterday," said Pat Bingham, community relations coordinator for Pitkin County. "We were only trying to have fun; we weren't thinking about the election. We were not thinking about tipping the scales whatsoever." Recently, a resident had called and complained about the use of McCain's voice to make announcements at the Pitkin County Airport

"The same fellow who made the complaint thought he heard Hillary Clinton's voice, but it was Hillary Fletcher (Pitkin County manager)," said Bingham.

McCain is one of about 40 voices of local residents and celebrities that Bingham has been collecting for the past year to do announcements at the airport.

"We consider it innocent fun to have someone recgonizable to make mundane announcements and to welcome our guests," she said.

She said the voices of several county commissioners are used as well, but after this, "if they're running for office, we will have their voices off the PA system."

However, Bingham hasn't ruled out using McCain's voice again in the future.

"If he becomes president, we might put him back on," she said.

Bingham said she is still on the lookout for interesting voices to use at the airport. If anyone has a suggestion, call her at 720-920-5204.

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